The present study analyzes the association between early victims of child-maltreatment and their coping strategies during a seven-week clinical observation in a forensic youth center. Analysis of the obtained data, by using the FPJ-list, is based on 179 male participants, between the ages of 12 and 25 years old, who have been observed in forensic youth center Teylingereind. Coping is subcategorized in positive, avoidance and negative coping. Child-maltreatment is categorized in physical abuse, sexual abuse and witnessing intimate partner violence. Results show that there are no significant differences in the use of positive, negative and avoidance coping between maltreated and non-maltreated participants. There are, however, significant differences between the different maltreatment groups. Victims of physical abuse use more positive- than avoidance- or negative coping and more negative- than avoidance coping. Victims of sexual abuse and witnessing intimate partner violence use more positive- than avoidance- or negative coping. Most results are contrary to expectations and in contrast to the used previous literature.

Reactive and proactive aggression are two forms of aggression that have often been described in previous articles. Both forms share an amount of correlates and additionally show some distinct associations with other variables linked to mental disorders or misbehavior. Aggression as well as mental disorders are very common within juvenile justice institutes. The aim of the current study was to provide cut-offs for aggression that help to identify highly aggressive youths who greatly differ in clinically relevant features (e.g., mental health problems) from youths with lower levels of reactive and/or proactive aggression. To achieve this, current study used data of the Reactive Proactive Questionnaire (RPQ) with addition of MAYSI-2 and SDQ data of N = 1591 detained male juveniles from various ethnic origins. To ensure that cut-offs can be used across all ethnicities, cut-offs were identified within 4 ethnic groups, being Dutch, Moroccan, Antillean-Surinamese and mixed ethnicities. Cut-offs for the RPQ identify juveniles with high aggression levels and also higher scores on variables screening for mental disorder, compared to juveniles with normal aggression levels. Therefore, current study facilitates RPQ score interpretation and helps optimize screening, diagnostics and treatment of institutionalized juvenile offenders.

This thesis studies the relationship between three risk factors for criminality: substance use, low IQ and psychopathic traits in male adolescent delinquents of two Dutch juvenile justice centres. New insights in these relationships can bring information to improve treatments and reduce recidivism. There were 1230 participants between 12-25 years old, who were assessed with modules of the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children Version IV (DISC-IV; substance use), Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-III (WISC-III; IQ)/Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-III (WAIS-III; IQ) and Youth Psychopathic traits Inventory (YPI; psychopathic traits). The results of the current study found no difference between the group with and without substance use on full scale (p = .332), verbal (p = .442) and performance IQ (p = .320), but did find a difference between the group with and without substance use on psychopathic traits (p < .001). Male adolescent delinquents who scored positive on substance use showed more psychopathic traits than male adolescent delinquents who scored negative on substance use. There was no significant correlation between IQ and psychopathic traits in the group who scored positive on substance use (r = 0.068, p = .727). There was an unexpected weak positive correlation between IQ and psychopathic traits in the group who scored negative on substance use (r = 0.271, p = .007) in which higher IQ was correlated to more psychopathic traits. There was no difference found in strength of correlation of IQ and psychopathic traits between the group with substance use and in the group without substance use (p = .342). It can be concluded that the relationship between the risk factors IQ, psychopathic traits and substance use in male adolescent delinquents in a juvenile detention centre is not entirely clear. Further research is needed to study the relationship between the risk factors for criminality: substance use, IQ and psychopathic traits.

The aim of this study was twofold. First, to examine parenting stress and satisfaction with the juvenile justice institution (JJI) experienced by participating parents (N = 51) in family-centered care (GGW). Second, to learn about their experiences, views and expectations of GGW, 19 parents were interviewed. Differences between the type of living (YOUTURN and GGW) and between the age groups (16- and 16+) were part of this research. The present study was focused on parents of incarcerated male adolescents aged between 12 and 21 years. Non-parametric tests were used to examine the population of the GGW-parents. Contrary to our expectations, the results of this study showed that these parents report a low level of parenting stress. However, it appeared that these parents experience more parenting stress than the population of parents without child welfare involvement. On the other hand, the parents in our study reported less parenting stress than the clinical group.
Furthermore, the parents in our study were generally satisfied with the treatment in the JJI. The semi-structured interviews were the basis of the qualitative analysis. The analysis of these interviews showed that the involvement of parents is more embedded in the GGW-groups in comparison to the YOUTURN-groups. The desired involvement of parents includes an introductory meeting, frequently contact (by telephone), group activities, and participating in discussions about the care process. Reasons for dissatisfaction with the JJI are limited information, lack of initiative, and feedback on the progress of their son. Insight in these factors may help to further improve the program of family-centered care and its implementation in practice, which in turn can lead to more involvement of parents during their child’s detention.

Research has consistently shown that juvenile delinquent behavior is related to risk factors such as a lower IQ and the experience of stressful life events. The aim of this study was to investigate the role IQ plays in the relationship between stressful life events and the severity of delinquency among Dutch incarcerated male adolescents.

In this study, 163 incarcerated male adolescents, aged 12-18 years old, were screened for stressful life events using JTV (Childhood Trauma Questionnaire) and were tested with the Wechsler Intelligence Test (WISC-III or WAIS-III). Criminal offences of these juvenile were categorised into twelve categories from least to most severe offences (Brand et al., 2005).

Our main findings were significant relationships between Verbal IQ (VIQ) and severity of delinquency, as well as Performance IQ (PIQ) and severity of delinquency. Another interesting finding was the prevalence of almost equal groups of disharmonic profiles of VIQ < PIQ and VIQ > PIQ. These results are noteworthy, because a number of previous studies have found a regular pattern of a higher prevalence of VIQ < PIQ profiles and a smaller number of VIQ > PIQ profiles. Unexpectedly, no moderation effect of Verbal IQ on the relationship between stressful life events and severity of delinquency was found. These results nevertheless suggest that it is important to stimulate the cognitive development of at risk juveniles, in order to reduce the likelihood of delinquency and recidivism.